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3.26.2006

quarter century

So, today I am another year older. I think Mother Nature decided to give me a taste of spring for my birthday...and it tasted sweet. I had an excellent birthday bash last night with my swiss amis and my expat pals. The past few weeks have been rather hectic so here is a Mexican 'vegetable pear' filler until I can update the blog as I would like to. Let's just say, there's a junk food review, saucy sampling, and carbohydrate caper in the works.

La chayotte c'est choux, non?

3.04.2006

¡Ay, Carambar!


I am so completely juvenile (and not ashamed to admit it!) when it comes to toys, contests, and most of my style. As can be witnessed by the um...subdued color scheme of this website. I tend to be easy to shop for. If it's kitschy, brightly colored, funky or if even your 8 year old kid sister would would look askance at it because she's too old for it, chances are good I will love it.

Hence, when I opened my very first Carambar and saw there were points in it to be collected I immediately wanted 'It'. Regardless of the fact that I had no clue what 'It' was. This is like getting a decoder in your cracker jack box. Sure the popcorn is fine...but we suffer the sugar high for the 10 cent toy nestled lovingly within. Back to my narrative...So I set out to find what our little mystery prize was to be. The options are either a dvd (eh) ORRRRRR a Carambar t-shirt!!!!!! I'll take what's behind door number 2, Pat. My Vache Qui Rit shirt from the last point collecting spree needs a companion.

I rushed out and bought a bag of my very own and brought the bounty in to work to share....not without an ulterior motive, of course. I am currently up to 73 points of the 200 needed to ransom for the shirt. Wish me luck ;)

Now...about the candy itself. Imagine if a Reisen candy and a Milk Dud got wild and crazy some fine halloween evening and shed their silky chocolate coatings in your trick or treat sack. Throw a Tootsie Roll into orgy and the resulting lovechild might resemble something like our baby Carambar. Now dress the candy up in a snappy red and yellow couture covered in jokes and random trivia...in French. It has a surprisingly complex taste for a mass produced candy marketed at sticky fingered children shopping with their moms (and what mom doesn't love their child enough to glue their jaws shut with candy for a little while. Remember those giant jaw breakers you used to beg for? And your mom would finally seem to catapult and give in to your demands? It was really for her enjoyment...not yours.) It's not solely sugar or cloyingly sweet but I am starting to fear for my fillings. Especially as I haven't established myself with a dentist here yet!

Overall I'd have to say I prefer the nibble sized Milk Duds. Then again I am a self admitted (but not yet committed) chocoholic, so any candy without chocolate is a snack opportunity wasted. These are good in that once-a-year sort of way...and yet, just a bit addictive. If you find yourself craving Carambar, give into that feeling.

And send your points to me :)

3.01.2006

Amuse-yeux


Summer by Guiseppe Arcimboldo
Originally uploaded by fuzzyshoe.
On today's menus is a big thank you to Mr. Jonathon Nix of Waltham Mass. for letting me use his painting of a xxxxx (to be disclosed later, see update below) on my title bar. (This will be added as soon as I figure out how to do so! Look forward to it, it's real purdy. In fact, expect a complete aesthetic overhaul in the near future.)

Mr. Nix does scrumptious sculptures and totally toothsome paintings, be sure to peruse his peachy paeans to produce here. Don't forget to peek at the myriad of other mediums he masters in as well. To keep him in good company let me also mention worth searching for the transcendant pepper photos done by Edward Weston, the intriguing vegetable portraits by Giuseppe Archimboldo and the amusing illustrations by Greg Brown.


*UPDATE* May 7, 2006 I am finally getting the hang of this 'blogger' thing and thanks to my future webmaster (www.rai.nu, coming soon) Laurent, we now have the image appearing in the title bar. w00t. Thanks Larry! And another thanks to Mr. Nix for the truly awesome and vibrantly alive painting of a Kiwano, better known as a horned (not horny) melon. I am still however working on the graphics and layout of the page in general though. Will keep you all updated as I go.

Cheers,
your hostess with the mostest - Rai